And the Truth Comes Out!

The lie in my previous post was........................

Drumroll!!!

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#2 was the lie!  (I was engaged once before meeting my current hubby.)

  I have been with my hubster since HS so I definitely wasn't engaged before him!

As for #1 - I started working at a corporate office (full time!) during college.  I loved my co-workers and had a good 5 years before graduating (yes, I took forever to graduate, shut up!).......I miss my co-workers and my ability to get up and grab a snack, go potty, or take a walk out in the fresh air whenever I wanted BUT I wouldn't trade anything for my new career of teaching - talk about rewarding!

And for #3, the hubster and I bought our house when I was only 19 (he was 23).  I worked in corporate and was making decent money (for my age) and we didn't want to throw our money away with an apartment.  I'm so glad we decided to live together before getting married!  6 years later, we're still living in the same house and we have made it our home! <3

Hope you had fun playing!  Have a fantabulous weekend!

2 Truths, 1 Lie

I saw this on Miss Katie's blog today and thought it looked fun!

The title pretty much explains the rules.  I will share 2 truths and 1 lie about myself.  YOU get to GUESS which is the lie! I will share which of the three is a lie later on tonight or early tomorrow!

(1)

I worked in the corporate world for 5 years before becoming a teacher.

(2)

I was engaged once before meeting my current hubby.

(3)

I bought a house at 19 years old.

2 truths.  1 lie.

Can you guess my lie?!  Leave a comment with your guess!

P.S. Happy Friday to everyone!  I'm excited to be headed to Easton tonight to enjoy a show at Shadowbox with some great friends!

It's (almost) Friday!!

 

 

1.   My favorite color is     ....probably blue or gray?  I know that sounds super boring.  I would say my favorite color is pink but it's not like I have a house full of pink things........just my computer case, phone case, keychain, etc.  Anything in the house would probably not be approved my Mr. Hubby!

2.  My travel destination of choice is   the BEACH for sure!  We recently went to Arizona and I LOVED it but I was very sad that we were somewhere so hot and I couldn't hear the ocean or take a late night walk on the beach!

3.  My favorite  food is    probably pizza.  I like all of the possibilites!  I've also been loving flatbreads lately.  (carbaholic checking in!)

4.  My happy place is   at my home with my hubster and pups.  I love that we have made our house a home and I love cuddling up with my little family...sorry for the sap!

5.  My favorite saying is      "Never give up on something you can't go a day without thinking about."  I love this saying because I think people give up on things way too easily....marriage, careers, dreams, life goals, etc.  People need to have some encouragement I guess!

6.  My dirty little secret is   that I have the worst baby fever right now!  Ok, it might not be a dirty little secret but seriously, EVERYONE around me is prego or with a newborn/infant.  How can you not get baby fever?!

7.  Something friends might say about me is that I     .....these types of questions are always hard for me.  I guess you could probably ask my friends!  They might say something boring and generic like "she's such a sweet girl!"  haha....it's ok, I love my friends anyway ;)

DIY Crayon Wreath & Shopping Steals!

Monday I posted on my new crate seats and totally forgot to include a picture of the finished product!  DUH!  Here you go:

This is a project I found through Pinterest and it was too cute not to attempt!  P.S. This project cost me under $5!  Score :)

I only ended up using 3 boxes of crayons.  ($0.40/ea. at Target!)

I organized the crayons in a rainbow pattern because I'm OCD like that.

Labels forward make for a neat wreath! :)

I like how my wreath turned out but I still need to add some embellishments.  Maybe some ribbon or something with my name on it?  Send your ideas my way!

I went to the mall today with some of my birthday coupons and gift cards.  I was hoping to find at least one good deal and I left with quite a few!  I had some return credits to Macy's as well as a $10 off coupon for my birthday month.  I ended up getting a super soft throw for the family room and a couple decorative pillows that match our bedding.  The pillows are normally $36/ea. and I got 2 for $8!!!!  (Our bedding is the color on the far right.)

I also got a dress from H&M that was marked down from $50 to $10!!  I had been eying this dress for a while so I was really lucky that I found it in my size and on clearance!  The only pic I could find of the dress is in someone's style board thing from Google:

I also got a few things from Wet Seal with a return credit I had.  Yellow L/S cardigan, teal tube top with button accents, basic gray v-neck.  Sorry no pics :(

What deals have you found lately?

Happy 30th to my Hubby!

Nick and I have birthdays a week apart from each other....my birthday is July 14th, his is July 21st.  I already posted about a few things we did for my birthday here.  We had a wedding that we were both a part of in between our birthdays (you can read more about that wedding here) so we were a little busy for any crazy celebrations.  Either way, I wanted to make this birthday memorable for my hubby because it was his 30th!  Yep, hubby is 30 now.  I'm officially married to an old man!  ;)   I honestly don't tease him too much because I know he'll give it right back to me when my time comes!

Nick is really hard to buy for (aren't all guys?!) so I had a hard time coming up with ideas.  I finally settled on a pruner (believe it or not, he wanted this!) and a Keurig Coffee Maker.  He LOVES the Keurig.  He set it up immediately and already ordered a bunch of new flavors!  Do you have any favorite flavors to recommend?

Lucky for my hubby, his birthday fell during Columbus Restaurant Week this year!  We ended up going to Hyde Park and it was delicious....great service, too!  Here is a pic before we left for dinner:

I also made him some peanut butter brownies.  I used this recipe for peanut butter filling and swirled it into some box brownie mix and it tasted like Reese's brownies.  YUM!

On Friday night we went to a local bar to celebrate with some friends.  Sadly, I didn't take a single picture.  FAIL.

Saturday I set up a surprise day date for us.  We went to The Wilds in Cumberland, Ohio.  It was about 1.5 hours away from Columbus.  We've been there before for one of their safari tours, but this time we went to try out their new zipline course.  Nick was totally surprised and super excited when he found out what I had planned!  I would definitely recommend making this trip if you live within a few hours!  They have lodging if you're interested in staying overnight, too.  However, our guides did tell us that Hocking Hills Canopy Tours are just as good (minus all the animals) and much cheaper.  (Both courses were designed/built by the same company.)  I guess if you're on a budget, maybe try Hocking Hills.  We might do that during our trip down this fall!

Fashionable helmets! :)

40-50ft. up on one of the platforms.

1st zip of the day!  I did NOT volunteer to go first, haha!

DIY Project for the Classroom!

I finally gave in and made the crate seats you're seeing all over Blogland and Pinterest!


I wanted this to be a cheap project and I also wanted seats that would work with any theme in the future.  Here is the break down of my materials:

• Storage Crates (6 @ $3.47/ea. from Walmart)
• Foam Mattress Topper (1 Full Size @ $11 from Walmart)
• Ribbon (1 roll @ $1.50 from Joann's)
• Fabric (2 yds. @ $4.50/yd. from Joann's)
• Spray Adhesive (free from my craft supplies)
• Staple Gun + Staples (free from my hubster)
• Optional: Duct Tape (free from my craft supplies)
• Some crates have rounded corners.  If your crates do, see Step 2!

Total Cost: $42 (about $7/seat)  Much better than buying those storage cubes at the store!

Here is my step by step tutorial....I hope it's not too confusing!

Step 1: (After purchasing all of your materials)  Prep your wood.  I had a nice man at Home Depot help me pick out the most thrifty option for my wood.  (Thanks, Allan!)  I ended up getting a large (6'x8' maybe?) sheet of plywood and keeping the extra for another project...it was much cheaper this way!  Mr. Allan cut my wood free and helped to make sure it

The wood for my crates (right) and my extra wood (left)!

Step 2: (Not applicable to all crates!)  The crates I purchased from Walmart have rounded corners.  I had to cut off the corners of my plywood in order for the wood to fit down into the crate.  My dad helped me to do this then we sanded all the edges with an orbital sander to make sure there were no splinters (even though it will be covered with fabric, I'd rather be safe than sorry)! 

Step 3: Cut your foam to size and glue to plywood pieces.  I used a mattress topper because it was a lot cheaper.  I used the plywood cut-outs as a template and used a sharpie to mark my pieces.  I cut 6 pieces of foam the same size as my seats and 6 more smaller squares.  Using spray adhesive, glue the smaller square (smooth size down) on your plywood and put the larger piece (smooth size up) on top.  I did a double layer of the foam to make the seats extra cushy!

This is the opposite of how you will glue it, I just wanted to show a size comparison!

Step 4: Cut your fabric to size.  I used a fabric quarter (18"x21") that I had in my craft supplies as a template.  This was the perfect size!

Step 5:  Staple your fabric to the plywood.  I started at the corners to make it neat (similar to wrapping a gift).  My wood was really dense so the staples didn't go all the way down.  I used a hammer to tap them all the way in.  Pull the fabric taught, but not too tight!  I also attached the ribbon loops in this step.  These loops make it easy to get the seat out of the crate to access the storage!   Rachelle of What the Teacher Wants used a different method for her ribbon handle.  Check out her post and choose which method you like best for your crates!

Step 6: As you can see, the bottom of the seat doesn't look very pretty.  I decided to trim the excess fabric and cover the frayed edges with some duct tape.  My hubby didn't have any, so I went to my pink tool kit and got my pink duct tape!  Luckily there are pink polka dots in this fabric so the duct tape matches!  :)  Now, you can flip the seat over and the kiddos can use this as a crate table when they are on the carpet!

Let me know what you think!  If you have any questions about this project, let me know! :)

Introducing.....

Foster Everett!  One of my best friends, Lindsey, from Worth the Wait gave birth (via c-section) to Foster very early this morning at 12:55am.  Foster entered this world 4 weeks early but is quite the trooper.  He weighs 6 lbs. 15 oz. and he is 19" long!  Linz is currently on a magnesium sulfate IV drip while Foster is in the NICU getting help with his breathing and feeding.  Please pray for Lindsey and Foster....she hasn't even been able to hold him yet!  I'll be heading to the hospital later today to meet Foster once Lindsey is off her drip and able to go over to see her adorable son.  Congrats Lindsey and Justin!

Theme Ideas? (and giveaway winner!)

Last year I had the idea of doing a beachy/ocean theme but didn't really carry through with it.  I had a very small classroom since I was a reading teacher.  I used mostly blue containers and had some ocean/fish borders and bulletin characters, but I didn't do much else.  Here are a few pics from the beginning of the year to give you an idea:

This year, I would love to do some sort of easy theme with my afternoon class.  I'm going to be teaching reading in the morning (no theme, maybe just the ocean decor since I'll be at a new school and can re-use my old stuff).  In the afternoon, I'll have kindergartners who are in a full day program (our district only has 1/2 day kindy still).  My class will be students who need that extra support to make it to 1st grade by next year (mostly students who haven't had many educational opportunities before coming to kindergarten).



I might possibly be sharing a classroom (still waiting to hear from my principal).  If that's the case, I might not be able to go through with a theme.  However, I want to at least have some ideas...I could always do it in the future!  I was thinking about something that will be easy to establish during my first year in this room (if I have it to myself, that is).  Maybe a star theme or something.........  What do you think?


I have a few ideas to go with the star theme, but I'm still not sure if I'm in love with it.  I like that I could use any colors I want and I could easily integrate stars pretty much anywhere.  I just don't know if it's enough of a theme........


Here are some of my ideas so far:

• Reading Under the Stars (hang stars from ceiling and white twinkle lights, if allowed)
• STAR folders (Students Taking Academic Responsibility)
• Reaching for the Stars bulletin board with student goals
• Rising and Falling Stars for behavior (not so sure about this one....found it on a forum)
• All Stars bulletin board to display student work
• Stargazer newsletter
• Super Star Readers
• Mrs. P's Shining Stars or Mrs. P's Superstars

P.S. Make sure to head over to Oh Boy 4th Grade and sign Farley's cool guest book feature to see where other bloggers are from!

P.P.S.  I won another giveaway!!  I am really excited to share that I won Shasta Anne's Clarisonic giveaway!  I'm seriously so excited, wahoo!  Head on over to Shasta Anne's blog and check it out!  If you're interested in fashion and girly stuff, I promise you won't be disappointed :)

WILW

Link Up with Jamie!

I'm loving that tomorrow is my hubby's 30th birthday!!  We're going out to dinner (Restaurant Week in Columbus)!  I also have a surprise for him on Saturday!  Any ideas for a yummy birthday dessert?  I was thinking something with PB and chocolate..............


I'm loving that I have two jobs for next year which means I am FULL TIME.  Finally!  Now I just need to get my 'dates at a glance' from my principals and try to align my schedules!  I bought my planner at Target (duh) and hate that I can't get it all filled up with everything.

I'm loving that I'm going to my mom's tonight to celebrate my birthday and the hubby's birthday.  My mother-in-law is coming too (another July bday) and we're cooking out (and hopefully having some cake)!

I'm loving that I'm going out to lunch with a co-worker from my old school today!  We're trying a new sub place and then I'm going to the mall to pick up one of Nick's birthday gifts that I pre-ordered and maybe shop a bit for myself. :)

I'm loving my cutie patootie pups.  Here they are testing out my birthday gift - a lounge chair for laying out on our patio OR at the pool!  P.S. That pillow flips over to reveal a face hole and you can put your arms through those holes on the side to read a book easily while on your tummy.  So fun, right?!

I'm loving that I went to Walmart and picked up a bunch of school stuff for CHEAP.  I now have most of the materials to make my crate seats for my kindy kids this year .......hopefully I can have them done by next week!

(as always) I'm loving my wonderful husband.